The Gorilla Incident

I mentioned in my last post that I am still recovering from whiplash following an encounter with a gorilla. Tricia has requested more details. So here goes.

Whlst we were in Uganda, we decided to 'treat ourselves' to a gorilla tracking trip. In the mountain rainforests that border Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, are some many of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas (as in 'Gorillas in the Mist'). As part of the effort to protect these amazing creatures, money is raised for local communities and for conservation by charging small numbers of rich tourists large sums of money to track them, with guides, in the forest and then spend time with a group of gorillas that has been 'habituated' to human contact. There are only a few groups of gorillas that are visited by people in this way and they restrict contact to one hour a day by a maximum group of 8 people. This opportunity is in high demand, and usually you have to book 3 months in advance to do it.

Towards the end of our trip in Uganda, we desparately wanted to see some of the country, having spent nearly 4 weeks, in one of the most beautiful countries in Africa, in a village near Kampala. We expressed an interest in seeing the gorillas to someone who organises trips, and they managed to sort out a trek for us very quickly so we toured across Uganda (it was a 3 day trip) to see the gorillas. Every report we read on the net cited this as a truly amazing and wonderful experience.

For me, one of the most amazing things was just being in the rainforest. The scenery was just stunning. We spent the night before our gorilla encounter in a tent on a platform overlooking the rainforest. Truly beautiful.

We trekked for a couple of hours through the forest until we came to our gorilla group. The first gorilla was just sitting in the bushes eating.

The second gorilla, a very large male, decided to 'play'. Apparently, a normal way of approaching an unknown gorilla, if you are a large male hoping to be a silverback one day, is to run at them and see if you can knock them over, thus proving who is strongest. We had strict instructions not to move, should a gorilla run at us. Apparently, running away would be seen as unfriendly and possibly provoke wrath on the part of the gorilla.

What happened next is a bit of a blur.... A very large male gorilla bounded down the hill towards us and quite high speed and knocked me over. Was standing at the top of a fairly steep slope at the time, so hit the ground backwards with some force. Scrambling to my feet bruised and muddied with a twisted ankle, sore head, sore chest and stiff neck, I couldn't help wondering which of us was endangered...

Spent the rest of our allegedly magical experience feeling somewhat shaken and rather scared. Was suddenly aware of how very large and strong these creatures are. Even the young gorillas we saw playing looked somewhat fearsome from where I was standing!!! Luckily, Andy took lots of pictures so I could relive the more magical bits away from the forest in the safety of our own living room!

Me, immediately post gorilla attack.

The assailant.

The view from our campsite

Back in the UK

We're back in the UK, after our Africa adventures. Had a great time as well as some hairy moments. I am still nursing a whiplash injury following an encounter with a mountain gorilla - how's that for an interesting injury? And Andy still has a swollen elbow following his encounter with a careless minibus driver in Kampala. I think my injury is more exciting!!

We rang Staffordshire adoption service when we got back. They still haven't got an answer for us from our medicals, which we had done in February. Andy was asking what the timescale would be if we were to pass the medical. They couldn't possibly tell us. Ho hum.

There is a new voluntary adoption agency appeared just down the road from us. Actually it's a re-incarnation of an old agency, called Father Hudson. Father Hudson was a Catholic agency and Catholic adoption agencies over here got into a bit of bother a while back because they were unwilling to consider gay couples. Discrimination on the grounds of sexuality is now specifically outlawed in the UK. So I suspect that's why they disappeared and have re-appeared in a different form. I'm only guessing mind. They now state that they accept applications from (amongst others) 'couples who have a civil partnership.' All their material looks very professional and I had a good conversation with someone. I'm very tempted to jump ship and try them. Andy just looked really tired when I suggested it and said "but we'd have to have a CRB check done again." I pointed out that actually we've only had a CRB check done with Birmingham (not counting the countless ones we've had for various work purposes). But I understand how he feels.

Andy did say the other day that if nothing has happened in a years time, he thinks we should call it quits. And for the first time, I said I agreed. We really can't carry on this waiting for nothing to happen forever. I think something will happen in the next year or so, if this is part of God's plan for us. And when I think of the children we met in Africa, and the times we were tired, and just spending a bit of time with some kids, fired us up again and gave us energy it makes me think we've got something to offer.

Andy fell in love with quite a few kids. Including a 14 year old girl and a 2 year old that Andy kept threatening to take home in his suitcase. And both our hearts were touched by a 17 year old girl we met in Uganda who we would happily have adopted. Then there was the day we were at a church service in South Africa (typical African, very loud and lasts about a week) and Andy got bored. I found him outside at the end, playing with a load of kids he'd befriended. He quite obviously felt much closer to God playing with the kids than he did in church. I know none of this is anything like having full time responsibility for children...

Anyway, we have information from Adoption Focus and I have written a rather pointed letter to Staffordshire, telling them we need to know what's happening and how long things are likely to take. So we'll see. In the meantime we're settling back into life on our home continent and getting on with things. Missing Africa but loving the warm showers and indoor flushing toilets!!!!!